Conception Bay Museum unveils Amelia Earhart exhibit

For the first two weeks of the 2018 season, the Conception Bay Museum in Harbour Grace will feature a room devoted solely to Amelia Earhart. - Andrew Robinson

Co-ordinator plans to rotate historic subjects throughout tourist season

Kate Pitcher, co-ordinator for the Conception Bay Museum.

HARBOUR GRACE, N.L. — The Conception Bay Museum in Harbour Grace is rolling out a new exhibit dedicated to the town’s most storied link to the history of aviation.

From May 21-June 4, a new exhibit will focus solely on Amelia Earhart and her significance as an aviator and feminist. Earhart’s solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, the first to be completed by a woman, departed from Harbour Grace on May 20, 1932. She landed in Ireland 15 hours later.

According to Kate Pitcher, the museum’s co-ordinator and curator, a lot of the material may be familiar to people who have visited the museum before, but there are some new features on display for this exhibit, including new photographs.

“Instead of just focusing on her career in Harbour Grace, we’re looking at her feminist views as well and her whole flight career,” said Pitcher.

A personal highlight for the museum coordinator when it comes to the Earhart artifacts is a letter addressed to the Harbour Grace Airstrip Trust, informing them of a $250 donation she was making to the group.

The Earhart exhibit is the first of what Pitcher hopes will be several exhibits set up this summer for visitors at the museum.

The Amelia Earhart exhibit at the Conception Bay Museum features a variety of model planes.

“I want to do more rotating displays so we can get some of the really great artifacts that we have in storage out on display for people to see,” Pitcher explained. “This is the first one, and it seemed like a logical choice.”

Among the topics Pitcher is considering for further exhibits are famed pirate Peter Easton, telecommunications and the historic courthouse in Harbour Grace.

“We’ve had some interesting criminals come through here that I think a lot of people don’t know about,” she said.